Really great review, Gordon!
It comes in quite handy for me, since I am quite uncertain whether I should go for the SX20 or the FZ38 right now.
You might want to check the alternative text for the picture of the FZ38 on the intro page.

Excellent review, as usual. But I think at this point the CHDK is a really important thing for a potential buyer to keep in mind. BOTH the sx10 and sx1 fcurrently feature this perfectly working magic, which enables RAW and other very important things. The CHDK DNGs have Adobe RGB 1998 color space, and noticably higher color gamut and dynamic range in addition to video quality control and a number of "bracketings". I don't know how good the RAW files of sx1 or fzxx are, but the chdk DNGs are really good - they produce almost perfectly exposed pics where the default JPGs look like black ghostly garbage. The sx20 will most likely be ported too. So, if you keep that in mind, I think the sx20 has a LOT more potential than what is "officially" being offered by canon. Since the SX10 now has working chdk available for many different versions, I think you could do a special test for those who might be willing to try that.
I think some illustrations might have the potential hobbyists thinking.
I was simply testing a new chdk build, so please don't judge the otherwise horrible "photographic" quality...

Hi Roy, I agree CHDK is useful, but it was no good for the SX10 that I tested as it didn't support its firmware - at the time anyway. So don't assume it's an available solution for everyone. I will be mentioning it in my SX20 review though.

Yes, unfortunately the chdk for sx10 was only limited to 1 firmware at first, but currently it's available for nearly all the firmware versions including 1.00C, 1.01A, 1.01B, 1.02B, 1.03A. It is also available for the sx1is, sx100is, sx110is etc. Since it is a community driven project and not all the firmware dumps are available simultaneously, it usually takes a while for porting them all. But the good thing is that it usually gets done. So the sx20 does seem to be a good-enough candidate to follow up. If you mention that in the review, one might feel it worthwhile to choose differently... who knows may be even opt for the sx10 or sx1? But they should know about all their options - the decision they make is entirely upto them of course.
And I am still waiting for you unofficial chdk review if possible, particularly with a sx10is...

Excellent review! Can you tell me, when you're using aperture priority to keep the FZ35/38 apertures open, if you go from wide angle (f2.8 max), zoom to telephoto (f4.4) then back to wide, does the camera return the aperture to the largest opening (f2.8 ) or will it stay at the smaller (f4.4 in this example)?

I am not sure why almost every reviewer website writes that this is a 'minor' upgrade to the previous model.
I don't want to start a rant but what would be considered a 'normal' or 'huge' upgrade?

I've had the FZ38 now for almost 2.5 weeks and now I really start appreciating it and noticing the differences.
The speed and correctness of the focus is absolutely amazing. I've never had issues with the FZ28 but now with the FZ38 it is really point and shoot instantly.
The power ois is also .... wow ... where as we sometimes had wobble, especially in tele, is completely gone.

All the issues that I had with the FZ28 and video are absolutely gone now.
Standard PAL or NTSC features in different, same, models how it should be. No more mixups, dissapointments and beats the grey market.
Honestly I have no need to take a videocamera with me anymore. Plenty of usefull stuff that you can change for the best possible image.

There are thing that I absolutely don't like but can still be fixed with a firmware upgrade or some workaround.
- the only 3 images burst mode
- AVCHD which starts numbering from 000001.MTS every time you delete the ones on the card (known issue it seems)

Today I bought a Panasonic FZ35/FZ38 online (so I still haven't looked at it yet) but I was wondering about what lens options are there available for this camera. Would it need a special converter? Are there any good Macro lenses that you guys can recommend? Or is this camera absolutely amazing that there is no need for none of that? So please let me know your thoughts, perhaps I'm getting carried away and acting really excited and childish over this new toy , which is making me wonder what else can I add to it to fully max it's potential. Well thanks for reading and hopefully someone could give a good advice.